KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 ― The Pakatan Harapan Penang government pledged today there will be no water disruptions, including rationing, until the year 2030.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng boasted that the state is the only one in history that has not imposed water rationing, attributing it to his administration’s three-pronged strategy.
According to Lim, the number one method was by holding the top management personally responsible with a “heads will roll” philosophy if water rationing is imposed.
The second step, he said was by ensuring competent water demand management through punitive rates imposed on those who waste water and implement water conservation programmes.
The third aspect was by fully gazetting water catchment areas as well as over-designing water treatment plants, water pipes and water reservoirs to ensure more than adequate water supply so consumers in Penang can enjoy 32 per cent of Malaysia's water reserve margin, he said.
“This is the reason the Penang state government is able to guarantee 1.6 million Penangites and investors continuous water supply without any water rationing until 2030,” he said in a statement.
“The state government has also surrendered a portion of its assets to the Federal government so that the Federal government can fund the RM1.2 billion Mengkuang Dam project (expected to be completed in July 2017) that will increase water capacity by 4 times with a new dam circumference of 11km,” Lim added.
An estimated 3.8 million people in the Klang Valley were hit with water cuts this week due to scheduled maintenance works by Tenaga Nasional Berhad at its Transmission Main Intake in Bukit Badong, Hulu Selangor.
Following a public backlash over the timing of the water disruption just before Christmas, the National Water Services Commission has agreed to cut the scheduled water rationing exercise in the Klang Valley from six to four days.
The water disruption affects 707,759 account holders in 814 districts in Petaling, Klang, Shah Alam, Gombak, Kuala Langat, Hulu Langat, Kuala Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
